drugs | Cathryn

Therapeutics presentations

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Cathryn

It’s that time of the semester again. TIME FOR PRESENTATIONS.

Everyone’s all freaking out because we have to present a case, and last semester we went over a similar case in class before we had to present. This time, they’re just throwing us to the wolves. I’m fine with it because no matter what I do, I’ll probably forget something essential and lose the game even if my recommendation is right. I did that last semester.

Just so you all know, metformin can cause lactic acidosis. I not only forgot about it during the presentation, but it didn’t even make it onto my reference paper. how. I don’t even.

I’ve already painfully assessed everything I could for this presentation. Tomorrow will be finishing touches. And then the rest of the weekend is studying for clusters! I can’t believe we’re already embarking on the last 4 weeks of school!!

So here’s Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) riding a segway in a construction zone as a metaphor for me and the rest of the semester.

Tagged: arrested development, drugs, pharmacy, presentation, will arnett | 1 Comment

Drug names, a retrospective

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Cathryn

Drug names are hard.

I’ve finally learned how to say things like “simvastatin” and “metoprolol”. Thanks to Dr. Tuohy we all know how to say “levetiracetam” too. But, obviously, there’s a lot more to it than just pronunciation. And actually, Dr. Tuohy’s lectures this week have caused me to envision seizure drugs as bullies who fight on the playground, and for some reason they congregate and sing songs from West Side Story too.

I’ll also never separate phenobarbital from peanut butter balls ever again. That association has stuck.

The real moral of the story is, I tend to use weird associations to remember certain things about drugs. Dr. Tuohy even gave us one for a drug called topiramate. Its brand name is Topamax, but apparently some people call it Dopamax because of the profound cognitive side effects it has.

Yesterday I asked some lady at the pharmacy if she was picking up Dopamax. Then I was like “aw for crying out loud.” I immediately told her it was my professor’s fault for calling it that!

Luckily, I don’t think I’ll be actually saying “peanut butter balls” to patients at work. Hopefully.